Are my documents safe in the Discover view in OneDrive for Business?

Yes, your documents are safe. The Discover view in OneDrive for Business never changes any permissions.

Only you can see your private documents. Also, other people can't see your private activities, such as what documents you've read, what emails you've sent and received, or what Skype for Business conversations you've been in. Other people can see that you've modified a document, but only if they have access to the same document.

What you see in the Discover view is different from what other people see. You can see your private documents and other documents that you have access to. Other people can see their documents and documents that they have access to.

Who can see my documents?

You're always in control. Only you can see your private documents, unless you decide to share them. In the Files view, you can use the icons in the Sharing column to quickly see which of your documents are shared.

Your private documents are marked with a padlock and the text Only you. Shared documents are marked with a people icon and these are the documents that show up in the Discover view.

To see who a document is shared with, from the Files view, select the people icon next to the document. From the Share dialog box, you can then invite people, get a link to share, or stop sharing if you don't want people to discover a document.

How can I share documents with others?

To make the Discover view a great experience for everyone in your network, it's important that you and your colleagues store and share your documents where the Discover view can get to them: in OneDrive for Business or in SharePoint sites in Office 365.

How can I keep a document private?

If you want to keep a document private, store it in OneDrive for Business and choose not to share it. These documents will not show up in the Discover view for other users.

In the Files view, use the icons in the Sharing column to quickly see which of your documents are shared. Your private documents are marked with a padlock and the text Only you.

If you want, you can always share a document with others later.

Can other people see what documents I’ve viewed?

No, no one can see which documents you’ve opened and viewed in the Discover view.

If you’ve made changes to a document, other people can see that you modified the document, but only if they have access to the same document.

Can I turn off the Discover view?

Note: The Discover view never changes any permissions. You and your colleagues only see documents that you already have access to. Only you can see your private documents.

To turn off Discover view, you have to go to Delve and choose to not show documents. When you do this, the Discover view is removed from your OneDrive for Business. In Delve, you won't see any documents, and other people won't see any documents when they go to your profile page in Delve.

You can still use Delve to manage your profile information, and to see other users' profile information, such as their name and contact information.

You and others will still be able to find each other's documents in Office 365 if you have access to them. The documents just won't show up in Delve or the Discover view.

Turn off the Discover view from Delve

Select the app launcher icon
, and then select Delve.

In Delve, go to Settings.

Go to Feature settings and select Off for Documents in Delve.

Click OK to save the changes.

Note: It can take up to a week for all changes to take effect.

What happens if others have Delve and I don’t?

If your organization uses Delve, but you don't have a user license that includes Delve, you won't see Delve in the app launcher and the Discover view won't appear.

Other Delve users (people who have a user license that includes Delve) can see your documents in their Delve or Discover view if they already have access to your documents in Office 365.

If you want to prevent your documents from showing up on your profile page in Delve for other Delve users, you can choose to turn off showing documents in Delve. If you don't have Delve, you can do this from your Profile page in Office 365:

To go to your Profile page, select your picture in the Office 365 header, and then select About me.